BFI INITIATED CULTURAL PROGRAMME BRIEF & PLANNING DOCUMENT
For BRITAIN ON FILM
FOR DISTRIBUTION TO: ALL HLOS, HUBS, FAN NETWORK ORGANISATIONS, PROGRAMMERS and other
potential screening hosts
OVERVIEW
Programme name
Britain on Film - Year 2 (Rural & Village Life)
Short summary
Britain on Film is a three-year project led by the BFI, that reveals hidden
histories and forgotten stories of people and places from the UK’s key film and
TV archives. It is anchored by the BFI Player’s Film and TV Map of the UK, which
gives everybody in the UK free access to thousands of film and TV titles
featuring where they live, grew up, or any place of interest in Britain. However
Britain on Film will also be reaching audiences across the UK via screenings and
events run primarily by the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), featuring British
film and key UK archive content.
Timeframe & duration of
programme
May to Autumn 2016.
BFI Project team &
contacts
Phil Foxwood, BFI Britain on Film Project Manager
phil.foxwood@bfi.org.uk / 020 7957 4745
Jane Jarvis, FAN Britain on Film Project Manager
jane@cambridgefilmtrust.org.uk 07880 993730
PROGRAMME
The
cultural
ambitions
of the
programme
The
intended
cultural
outcomes
and legacy
The vision of Britain on Film is “To offer the people of Britain, from school children to senior
citizens, a unique and valuable insight into their screen heritage in all its national and regional
diversity – through a vivid picture of life in Britain by its ‘people and places’ from 1895 to
today”.
In terms of audience development, it is about encouraging popular engagement with archive
film. Building understanding & appreciation of the value and relevance of archive film is one of
the key goals.
Additionally, widening audiences geographically and outside of the current older demographic
and reaching diverse, non-specialised audiences are also a key aim.
1
The aims
and
objectives
of the
Project
The aim of collaboration with FAN for the launch of Britain on Film - Rural and Village Life is to
create a joined up, range of activity across the UK that engages audiences with Britain on Film
and archive content.
Much of the activity building up to the Britain on Film launch and beyond has focussed on
raising profile and awareness. Extensive coverage and successful marketing partnerships have
resulted in over 4 million views via online platforms in the 3 months since launch, but the
challenge now is to maintain interest and build engagement with the project over the next 2+
years as nearly 40 additional collections comprising 7,000+ films are published on BFI Player.
The majority of these (though not all) will be included on the Britain on Film map, and this will
remain the central focus of the project, with the overall objective of all related activity to drive
audiences back to the map.
The
overarching
curatorial
approach
It’s worth (re)stating that Britain on Film is not a BFI Blockbuster season like LOVE or Sci-Fi.
Unlike these themed seasons, Britain on Film is a 3+ year project with a clear core – that of
engaging audiences with archive film and the central Britain on Film map – both of which bring
together all the 14 regional and national archives as well as providing a simple and effective
access point for audiences.
As such, whilst press / marketing / activities can be localised in terms of developing local
audiences, there is the opportunity for audiences to explore further and wider with the Britain
on Film map. In other words, one of the key aspects of Britain on Film is that it is a national
project, but one that audiences engage with at a local, personal level.
So whilst individual screenings of archive materials can be successful in developing local
audiences and making them aware of the further opportunities with Britain on Film, activities
that can join up and be part of a national programme of screening events uniting our rural
communities by themed archive edits to become more than the sum of their parts will likely be
far more successful in terms of reach.
A great example of this in the first BoF FAN application, Britain on Film URBAN, was the Made
in My Toun programme, which is delivered Oct-Dec 2015, connecting with local audiences in
specific towns and cities across Scotland, but also providing a wider story and profile and
gaining more coverage and interest than if it were just 8 individually organised events. A
bespoke website madeinmytoun.com was also developed to promote the cross Scotland
project and making excellent use of the BoF logos and font offering continuity.
Continuing the ‘Made in My……..Village/countryside’ strand and linking places on a national
level would be good and then lead to further continuity in 2016 for ‘Made on My Coast’
Whilst obvious, it’s worth pointing out again that most people are engaging with BoF archive
films through the notion of Place – watching films set in places they’ve lived, been, and know
has been the majority of people’s experiences through the BoF map on player.
Certainly there is still a lot of potential in pursuing this angle in terms of reaching audiences
that haven’t discovered BoF, helping people discover new places (or newly added films about
the places they’ve already looked at), and taking archive film offline, with consideration to
necessary clearances, and direct to communities.
However, there are also opportunities for audiences’ entry points around themes of material,
either within the overall Rural theme or around other themes where the delivery is related to
Rural – ie. Local crafts, animals (another UFH theme), seasons, wildlife, local characters, (local
2
tv vox pops of different dialects), Morris Men and other rural traditions/celebrations.
Timescale
The Rural and Village Life collection will be launched on BFI Player and the Britain on Film map
towards the end of May 2016.
We are therefore looking for Rural-related activities to take place between June and Autumn
2016. See BoF EOI Form, PDF Guidelines and Guidance Notes for full details on timescales for
applications and delivery.
In addition, there are a range of bookable programmes, including themed compilations fiction
features and shorts that will be made available at no / low cost for public theatrical and nontheatrical screenings. This list of available screening content will be added to throughout the
lifetime of the BoF project, and can be booked for a BoF branded screening at any point. The
current list will be circulated shortly, and then updates and additions communicated on a
regular basis. In addition, if you have an idea for a particular title of local interest that’s on the
Britain on Film map that you’d like to screen in front of a feature (for example) please get in
touch and we’ll see if we can help.
(Furthermore, the next FAN PDF application for BoF COASTAL is planned for the end of 2016 for
activities to tie in with the ‘Coast and Sea’ collection due to go live on BFI Player in May 2017.
We would be more than happy to start any conversations about projects and activities for this
in advance.)
Guidance
for
potential
FAN BoF
activities
For any other potential FAN BoF Rural activities from June to Autumn next year, FHCE are
welcoming expressions of interest and ideas. The aim is for a FAN PDF application to be
submitted by 22nd February, with initial discussions starting now and EOIs deadline 24th
December 2015.
(For any ideas that may be larger or not have sufficient time to be developed prior to the
January deadline, we would suggest that these might work for next year’s BoF Coastal FAN PDF
application and welcome any thoughts or questions. We can also accept applications after
January for larger scale projects that might take longer to work up).
As mentioned above, there will be a range of programmes and titles, including fiction feature
film releases, compilations and shorts available for venues to book (at low / no-cost), so this
call out is for activities beyond one-off in-venue screenings.
Additionally, we are looking into possible national projects which may provide an easier
opportunity for FAN members to take part in BoF Rural activities. Funding and the relevant
curated content for each project would be made available for participants, so we would also
welcome responses from any members who would be interested in taking part in any of the
below:
Pop-up Screenings
FHCE are hoping to coordinate pop-up screenings across the country so that they form a
national story. One theme is to target County Shows which take place across the UK next
summer between May and Autumn
FHCE would be aiming to work with film archives to compile themed packages of content for
the Shows, plus some regionally specific content. We are looking for FAN members to put on
the screenings at County Shows in their area, which would be funded through the PDF
application.
3
Alternatively are there any ideas for regional pop-up screenings that could be linked up across
the country?
As has been shown by the success of BoF URBAN events, opportunities to screen archive as
part of an already established public event to add another angle to their programme for their
diverse audience works well. All manner of annual festivals – arts and music, food and drink,
and Beer! events at Local Rural life museums. With local knowledge of FAN members and, of
course, the content of the archive films – there are many opportunities to explore.
Pre-Show content in Rural Launch Week
When the Rural collection is published on BFI Player and the BoF map in May, we would like to
get as many cinemas as possible to play some pre-show archive shorts. Would any members
be interested in taking part in this with curated content provided?
Press and
Marketing
With the extremely high press coverage and attention from the launch in July, it’s not
envisioned that there is the potential or demand for a similar high-profile press launch and
major press campaign for the publications of Rural or Coastal.
There will however be press and marketing activity on BoF for various collections (with
particular focus on Rural and Coastal), and two online projects planned for the launch of Rural
in May will hopefully get good national press interest and coverage.
But overall there isn’t the same opportunity for a ‘national moment’ type project more
associated with the short-term Blockbuster seasons and high profile launch, so this is not a
priority for any activity. As mentioned above, the sense of national activity which audiences
engage with at a local level is still highly desirable, but should be considered more in terms of
value-for-money audience reach than national profile and publicity.
Similarly, there is less emphasis on peak events over a short-term period, so there is less need
to coordinate activities with a small time-frame.
Other BoF
activities
Additionally, there are a range of projects being developed which FAN members might like to
be aware of when proposing activities.
Journeys will be a key online project that can run throughout the lifetime of Britain on Film,
with special guests (film professionals / specialists from particular areas) selecting a number of
films from the map to form a thematic, personal or geographical journey (and will presented in
a similar style to this).
There is also a crowdsourcing platform being developed, which would enable the public to
improve location tagging of the films on the Britain on Film map.
Additionally, a creative reuse / mashup project is being developed around a competition
potentially launched with online masterclasses and live events.
Heritage Open Days / Love Your Local Cinema
The BFI, East Anglian and North West film archives took part in the National Trust’s Heritage
Open Days last September, which proved extremely popular. Several cinemas also took part,
but the National Trust would be keen for many more to take part. The proposal is to coordinate
participants under ‘Cinema History Open Days’ and offer behind the scene tours, talks, BoF
archive screenings or similar activities. This shares a lot with the Love Your Local Cinema idea
from the FAN MarComms group, so there is potential for the two to be merged.
4
Education
How will
the
programme
approach
on screen
diversity?
Any education-related activity is welcomed, but all schools activity is being managed by
IntoFilm for Britain on Film.
From the Digitisation Fund Guidelines:
“Above all, we want to encourage audiences to watch archive films by selecting titles that are
compelling, intriguing and relevant. Watchability is important. We want to work in
partnership with applicants to identify films with which the public can engage.
Diversity in audiences relates both to the diversity of the audiences themselves, and to the
diversity of the content they watch. Therefore, Unlocking Film Heritage has a role in ensuring
that the films digitised reflect the richness of the diversity in the UK population.”
5